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Drive suite
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 1, 2013
Hmmmmmm.......
I'm a huge Ray Bremser fan, but not too sure about this one. Lots of whams and cymbals.
It's pretty opaque and obscure.
First of all, the sub-title ...Composition, Materials, References seems to me (could be wrong) to be a bit of a misnomer.
If a suite is a collection of short musical pieces which can be played one after another, then this collection is intended to be read or performed to the accompaniment of music I presume. But that makes a lot of sense. I heard bebop in my head throughout most of the book.
Drive Suite by beat poet Ray Bremser is a short beat poetry booklet consisting of 4 poems in jazz meter. In this collection, I liked 'Sweet Funk' and 'Le Mans' (a poem about F1 racing of all things!) in particular.
What IS interesting about this collection and about Bremser's style in particular is his use of spacing on the page. I think this is because Bremser's poetry is cadenced in a spontaneous, intuitive jazz meter and with the whams! and cymbals! interjected throughout the text, the reader starts to develop a jazz rhythm just from reading these poems. I could hear bebop snares and kick drums in my head as I read this. Seriously. Give it a read and tell me if I'm wrong. How Bremser was able to pull that off in a reader is pretty amazing come to think of it.
I heard that Bremser was a huge fan of Coltrane and in fact his last request before he died was for someone to play some Coltrane. So obviously he loved his jazz as much as Jack did.
I think these poems need to be read and re-read for the full rhythm and meter to click in. As soon as I read the final line, I immediately turned back to the first page, riverrrun past Eve and Adam's etc., and it DID in fact make more sense the second time around.
After reading these poems, I have realized something about jazz poetry - meaning is of secondary importance, whereas the internal rhythm, the sound, the rhyme is key. And this has helped me, in turn, understand what Kerouac was trying to do in some of his blues choruses in Mexico City Blues. I have a feeling that this work was in fact heavily influenced by poetry such as Mexico City Blues. There is the same swing feel to the words and depth of meaning/message is jettisoned for the sake of sound. If that makes any sense.
Bremser once said in an interview, "I am a disciple of Jack Kerouac". I think Jack would have been very proud. Bremser received one of the biggest compliments ever for a poet, from Allen Ginsberg who described Ray as even a "better poet than myself".
In summary, this one might be a bit difficult for people who are only familiar with more traditional forms of poetry. My advice: put on some Coltrane or Dexter Gordon or....even better Lester Young! And try reading this over the top, especially focusing on the drums.
Why is Bremser so unknown!?!?!? It seems criminal. Even though this is far from his best (his best is to be found in The Dying of Children or Poems of Madness/Angel), it is definitely worth checking out if you are into all things beat like me.
I'm a huge Ray Bremser fan, but not too sure about this one. Lots of whams and cymbals.
It's pretty opaque and obscure.
First of all, the sub-title ...Composition, Materials, References seems to me (could be wrong) to be a bit of a misnomer.
If a suite is a collection of short musical pieces which can be played one after another, then this collection is intended to be read or performed to the accompaniment of music I presume. But that makes a lot of sense. I heard bebop in my head throughout most of the book.
Drive Suite by beat poet Ray Bremser is a short beat poetry booklet consisting of 4 poems in jazz meter. In this collection, I liked 'Sweet Funk' and 'Le Mans' (a poem about F1 racing of all things!) in particular.
What IS interesting about this collection and about Bremser's style in particular is his use of spacing on the page. I think this is because Bremser's poetry is cadenced in a spontaneous, intuitive jazz meter and with the whams! and cymbals! interjected throughout the text, the reader starts to develop a jazz rhythm just from reading these poems. I could hear bebop snares and kick drums in my head as I read this. Seriously. Give it a read and tell me if I'm wrong. How Bremser was able to pull that off in a reader is pretty amazing come to think of it.
I heard that Bremser was a huge fan of Coltrane and in fact his last request before he died was for someone to play some Coltrane. So obviously he loved his jazz as much as Jack did.
I think these poems need to be read and re-read for the full rhythm and meter to click in. As soon as I read the final line, I immediately turned back to the first page, riverrrun past Eve and Adam's etc., and it DID in fact make more sense the second time around.
After reading these poems, I have realized something about jazz poetry - meaning is of secondary importance, whereas the internal rhythm, the sound, the rhyme is key. And this has helped me, in turn, understand what Kerouac was trying to do in some of his blues choruses in Mexico City Blues. I have a feeling that this work was in fact heavily influenced by poetry such as Mexico City Blues. There is the same swing feel to the words and depth of meaning/message is jettisoned for the sake of sound. If that makes any sense.
Bremser once said in an interview, "I am a disciple of Jack Kerouac". I think Jack would have been very proud. Bremser received one of the biggest compliments ever for a poet, from Allen Ginsberg who described Ray as even a "better poet than myself".
In summary, this one might be a bit difficult for people who are only familiar with more traditional forms of poetry. My advice: put on some Coltrane or Dexter Gordon or....even better Lester Young! And try reading this over the top, especially focusing on the drums.
Why is Bremser so unknown!?!?!? It seems criminal. Even though this is far from his best (his best is to be found in The Dying of Children or Poems of Madness/Angel), it is definitely worth checking out if you are into all things beat like me.
Displaying 1 of 1 review